Severn Trent invests in a new anaerobic digestion plant for food waste

Severn Trent Water is investing £13 million to build a new anaerobic digestion plant for food waste in Coleshill.  This means that once it’s up and working the company will be able to convert local food waste into usable energy.

Mike Surrey, who’s overseeing the project, explains why Severn Trent is investing in the plant: “Just in our region, there’s 750 kt (kilo tonnes) of available food waste every year.  At the moment a lot of this just rots away in landfill, with no benefit to anyone.  However, when we’ve built this new anaerobic digester we’ll be able to generate electricity to power our sites and sell the extra back to the grid.  The great thing about this is that not only will it save Severn Trent a huge amount of money, it also helps to protect the environment.

“The Coleshill plant is currently being built, and by the end of the year it should be converting up to 50,000 tonnes of food waste into energy and a high quality bio-fertiliser.  This is energy that would otherwise have been wasted.  Generating energy this way is not only great for our customers’ pockets, it’s also a great way of keeping down carbon emissions, and helping to protect the environment.”

“And this is only just the beginning. Once the digester at Coleshill is up and running, we have ambitious plans to roll out food waste plants across the Severn Trent region, and we’re looking at where we’re going to put the next two plants right now.  We’re already industry leaders for renewable energy and each of these plants is expected to generate around two per cent of Severn Trent Water’s energy needs.”